Seems About Right

Kafka's The Trial had a rather interesting ending.  K. is taken by two men and led to a place in a courtyard.  These men then pull out a knife and engage in an interesting game.  They pass themselves between themselves and K., making it clear the K. was going to be stabbed.  K. comes to the conclusion that he must stab himself, and his mind wanders to a watcher.  He then finds himself being stabbed and choked
by the men.  "'Like a dog!' [The man] said, it was as if the shame of it should outlive him," (Kafka, 165).  The men are clearly angry as K. made it clear he was refusing to stab himself.  This was the first act of defiance against the courts throughout the whole book.  K. shows that the courts can be defied and they do not dictate every aspect of life.